Suresh, 3 others booked under UAPA over Kerala gold smuggling

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday booked a former employee of the United Arab Emirates and IT consultant Swapna Suresh and three others under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in connection with the gold smuggling case at Thiruvananthapuram airport. Others named in the FIR are Sarith Kumar, who is in the custody of the customs, Uae-based smuggling kingpin Fazil Pareed and Suresh’s friend Sandeep Nair. With NIA enforcing the UAPA, Suresh and Sandeep are likely to surrender in a couple of days and NIA may start extradition proceedings for Pareed.

In the FIR, the NIA said Suresh and Kumar were actively involved in arranging the diplomatic papers for the delivery of the consignment. It also said a good portion of money generated through smuggling was used to fund anti-national activities.

The Ministry of External Affairs has also made a request to the UAE embassy in Delhi for a meeting with some employees at the consular office in Thiruvananthapuram for more details.

In another development, the Kerala high court deferred the bail application of Suresh, the main accused,to Tuesday after her lawyer said he was yet to get a copy of the NIA’S FIR.

Though the plea was deferred, the court did not stay the arrest of Suresh who went underground after the gold seizure.

Opposition parties, the Congress and the BJP, have alleged that chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan knew about his principal secretary Sivasankar’s alleged link with Suresh and sought his resignation. Opposition protests turned violent at several places.